Lausanne

Lugano

Zurich

Kellerhals Carrard is one of the world’s leading international sports law firms. Its practice covers all areas of sports law, including disputes and commercial matters.

The firm has unparalleled experience in the resolution of sports disputes and is one of the most active firms appearing before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), particularly in football and doping-related disputes. The firm is uniquely equipped to act before the CAS, as it combines expertise in the procedural law of the CAS (Swiss law) with experienced advocates who are native speakers of the CAS’ official languages (English and French). This is in addition to the firm’s comprehensive linguistic capacity (including German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Russian and Mandarin) and its lawyers’ licences to practise in numerous jurisdictions.

Kellerhals Carrard also has a unique and unparalleled insight into the administration and business of sport, and provides ongoing advice to some of the world’s leading sports organisations, teams and individuals with respect to their commercial programs (hosting, sponsorship, media, merchandising, licensing, image rights etc.), as well as regulatory and governance issues.

The firm’s Sports Law Group includes several Partners and attorneys whose practice is exclusively or primarily focused on sports law. Much of the firm’s expertise and experience has been gained through the various positions that have been held by its members, including:

Director General of the IOC;

Chairman of the FIFA Reform Committee;

Secretary General of the CAS;

Four CAS Arbitrators;

Two CAS Mediators;

CAS Legal Counsel;

Head of CAS Mediation;

Chairman of the International Cycling Union (UCI) Disciplinary Commission;

UEFA Ethics and Disciplinary Inspector;

In-house lawyer of a national football association;

FIFA Players’ Status Department Legal Counsel;

Disciplinary Judge of the Swiss Football League;

Vice-Chairman of the disciplinary chamber of the Swiss Olympic Association in charge of doping cases;

Vice-Chairman of the Irish Sport Anti-Doping Disciplinary Panel;

Legal and deputy director of a sport marketing agency active in skiing, tennis, golf and cycling;

Secretary General of an association of sports equipment manufacturers;

Vice-President of the Swiss Skiing Federation;

In-house counsel to a luxury brand sponsor of golf, tennis and horse racing events and athletes;

General Counsel and Member of the Management Committee of Ferrari SpA;

In-house counsel to Scuderia Ferrari Formula One Team;

Chairman of the America's Cup Arbitration Panel;

Member of the Appeal Panel of Euroleague Basketball;

Member of the Ethics Committee of the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA)

Manager of Legal Affairs at a major international Sports Marketing Agency;

President of a leading professional ice hockey club.

The firm’s Sports Law Group also includes renowned commercial arbitration specialists with experience acting as both arbitrators and counsel under the rules of all the major commercial arbitral institutions. This includes the authors of one of the leading practitioners’ textbooks in Switzerland and members of the board of the Swiss Arbitration Association.

The firm has a wide spectrum of clients, including multisport bodies (such as the International Olympic Committee and the World Anti-Doping Agency), International Federations, National Anti-Doping Agencies, automotive teams and drivers and a host of football federations, clubs, players, agents and investment funds.

In its 2017 and 2018 editions, "Who’s Who Legal" named Kellerhals Carrard as the leading Sports & Entertainment firm in Switzerland: article

Football Law Congress

On 18 & 19 September 2018, Kellerhals Carrard hosted the largest ever AIAF Congress on Football Law in Lausanne.

The Congress, which focused on the formation and termination of footballers’ contracts, was entitled: Footballers' contracts - Making them and Breaking them

The programme (in English, Spanish and Portuguese) can be found below, as well as a video and photos of the event.